For a long, long time, Kelly Slater was at the top of the surfing pyramid. The last two years, though, have seen the Champ fall into a slump of never-before-seen proportions, at least for him. There are a variety of theories for why that might be, including age (he is, after all, getting up there in terms of competitive surfing), having too many irons in the fire (Purps, Kelly Slater Wave Co, Firewire, Outerknown, Slater Designs, to name a few), overthinking (an issue that we all fall to at some point). In reality, it’s probably a mix of all of them. In the last few years, Kelly’s been gathering/starting businesses like a squirrel collecting nuts.
As one of those guys that’s consistently pushed board design, one of his most interesting endeavors is Slater Designs. A surfboard company featuring collaborations with Greg Webber and Daniel Thompson, Slater Designs has faced some heavy criticism already, mostly from armchair surfers who haven’t actually ridden one. Instead, they base their opinions on Slater’s performance on them. The board in the video above was created by none other than Simon Anderson, and Kelly decided he’d take it out at Winkipop, just around the corner from Bells, and give it a shot.
